The inimitable Robert Fulghum consistently opens doors and helps us see things afresh. In his blog (Nov. 28, 2010), he writes that the northern plains tribes of Native American Indians made it a habit to keep track of time and tribal history by placing graphic symbols on a large tanned buffalo hide. A village elder would mark the events in the community from the first snowfall of the year to the last. They called these collections of memorabilia "Winter Counts." Create your own "Winter Count" as a kind of homemade history of what is going on inside and around your during winter. Feel free to include anything that strikes your fancy.
— Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat in Practicing Spirituality in Winter